I knew him too well

I will get to the recap of my weekend on the back of a Harley in a moment 

First however, I would love to put on paper just how frustrated and angry I am at my not so dear friend Paul, the guy that I spent the weekend with
 
Ok so there may be some recap here, however, its for some background on the reason I am so cross and upset
 
Paul, I may have mentioned, is a bit of a loose cannon
 
He has no filter when he says things, and he thinks its ok to be that way
 
I watched this weekend as people looked at him like he was a big buffoon, and he just doesn’t realize that people just tolerate him because he’s got this open wallet policy about life, even though he really can’t afford to be that way
 
I may have mentioned that he’s not a big fan of being alone, has been in bad relationships because that’s what he’s comfortable with, people treating him badly is the norm, and he allows it
 
He’s just a big bundle of issues and he thinks that he can live his life that way and everything is fine
 
I have said to him on numerous occasions that once he stops hurting himself and beating himself up with that same stick, life would be a whole lot sweeter for him
 
He isn’t convinced and continues on his merry way
 
This weekend was insane, it was overwhelming and for another entry later, I felt more than a little out of my element and really uncomfortable at times
 
I was introduced to the group that Paul rides with, the HOG chapter he belongs to, which are really great people, and I had a blast getting to know them.
 
Paul spent quite a bit of time apart from me on Saturday, after we got back from the 80 mile poker run around the Delta and Elk Grove, which is where the run was held. I just walked around, checked out the bikes, talked with other riders, just taking my time and getting used to being in this element. I had no idea where he went off to and I spent some time discussing bikes with some of the group.
 
Paul happened to walk up while I was speaking to several of the group, I think he felt left out at our goofing off, like I was in on the joke and he wasn’t
 
Perhaps that’s the trouble with him, he didn’t like that I assimilated so quickly with them
 
He is really involved with the BAD ride (Bikers Against Diabetes and that was held on Sunday) and I think that’s a great thing to be involved with, giving back is huge with the biker community and I am happy to have participated in that way
 
There was a VIP dinner on Saturday day, and the plan was for him to go, bid on some silent auction things, and then come back. I really didn’t want to ride from Sacramento to Vacaville at night, to see him act like, well, act like him for several hours.
 
So I declined, I said that I would stay back at the hotel and hang out with the riders and get to know them. I had such a great time hanging out by the pool with them while Paul slept, I figured going out to dinner would be a blast as well
<span style=”font-family: Comic Sans MS”> 
If he had said to me, Katt I would love to have you attend, would you please accompany me? I would have said ok, sure, since you asked and you wanted me to go.
 
But no, he was all passive aggressive as usual and left in a huff, even the women in the group mentioned that (as well as made fun of me, which I thought was hilarious)
 
The group got drunker and drunker and me being the non-drinker (which was another reason to make fun of me) we all got ‘cleaned up’ and headed out for dinner in Old Sac.
 
They all paid in cash and I paid for my portion on my debit card. I thought it was all handled, however, when I got home, that’s for later in this story.
 
Me and two of the group, an adorable couple that I spent most of my time with, stayed in Old Sac to shop and then we walked back together, crossing against the light and basically being obnoxious.
 
As we walked to the hotel, we saw Paul ride into the parking lot. We walked in and there he was with bags of stuff from the auction. 
 
Mind you, I just had a conversation with Paul about his spending, his taking out a second mortgage, how his paychecks will soon be a lot less, perhaps he might want to curtail his spending, adjust his lifestyle (which he won’t do), etc.
 
We all came up and talked with Paul, he was there talking with another of the group. He handed me a bag and it weighed probably 10 pounds. I pulled out this leather jacket and he said for me to try it on. I shrugged it on, and J, a super sweet lady who is with G, was standing there and it was a gorgeous jacket and I was just floored by how heavy and nice it was.
 
I turned to Paul and said, seems to fit, he said, that’s your jacket. I turned to J and we both mouthed ‘oh my god’ because we couldn’t believe he would spend that kind of money on me. G kept saying that I will have to properly thank him, wink wink nudge nudge and they all laughed.
 
We gather up all his stuff from the auction and I thanked him yet again for the jacket, how he didn’t have to do this, it really was too much, considering he paid for everything for the weekend.
 
It was in the room while getting ready to go to sleep, when he kept mentioning that ‘I wish you could have gone to the dinner’. I finally had to say, let it go already, geez.
 
I mentioned in passing as I was checking out the jacket that I didn’t get it, he went off on this, what’s not to get, it’s a nice jacket, I paid, blah blah blah for it and you should have come with me to the dinner to tell me what you wanted me to bid on
 
Um ok, you big dope, settle down, I just had a question about the lining
 
(mind you, I mentioned the lining to J the next day and she said oh yeah that’s a neck gusset for wind protection and Paul read me the riot act because I asked a question about it…his response was, I don’t even know anything about the jacket, I just bought it. He basically bought it without knowing anything about it)
 
So Sunday we all get up and head out to meet up with the Elk Grove folk to head to Napa on the back roads from Sacramento.
 
It truly was an amazing ride, one that I will always remember. 
 (After rehashing all of this weekend in my mind, and trying to get it here on paper, long story short of it all, Paul once again got all passive aggressive and said something to me last night when I called him in a panic about my credit card charge at the restaurant. I got an email from him that again seemed to say that he is right, and I am wrong, even though he acts like a douche bag on a regular basis, throw in some leather and a weekend trip and it gets negated by douche baggery, go figure. Its not worth discussing, however, I have a feeling that we won’t be doing anything together anytime soon)